The Road Unrecognized
by A Feral Fatty
Summary: The worlds hang in the balance as Lord Asriel and the Authority clash in what is to be the biggest war ever known. How will this effect the lives of our two new heroes on their journey to aid the cause?
1. Chapter 1 The Boy and the Bear

Well, this is my first fan-fic and I'm a bit nervous about how it will be accepted and how well it will turn out. The characters in this story are completely fictitious and are in no way related to anyone I know.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to any work of Phillip Pullman or any rights to the His Dark Materials series. Nor do I actually own a copy of any of his works. Viva La Library.

Chapter 1

The Boy and the Bear

The sun is setting wild with color in the western horizon filled with almost every shade of warm color imaginable. The sounds of life more present in the daylight fade as the nightingale begins its hollow, joyous cry for the moon to appear and allow the festivities of the night to begin. The tops of the trees rustle lightly along the edge of the forest and the golden wheat of the fields sway along with it in perfect harmony.

The moon rises in its entire splendor setting the landscape ablaze with its lunar fire. Creatures aligned with this setting come about to search for food and carry on as such. Three deer come warily out of the forest to make due of the not-yet-harvested wheat. When out of the corner of the field, a bear, surging with power with its massive white form, erupts from the plants and makes for its kill.

The deer, frightened by their clearly foreign enemy, try to escape by splitting apart, but one falls to no avail. This bear is a swift and able hunter, taught through a lifetime of discipline and war.

With its mighty claws, the bear catches the neck of one of the deer and breaks it upon contact. Food enough for now, but that is all the bear needs.

This living mass of force and fury starts to feast upon its catch. All is well for today the bear will eat, not knowing when the next meal may come.

Life in the world is different from what it used to be. It is rumored that a man named Lord Asriel has done this to amass an army to destroy the Ancient of Days, the Holy Father, The Authority, God. Because of him, worlds have been torn asunder and the boundaries between them had been shattered. It is because of this man that the ice lands of Svalbard had thawed and forced the great bears out of their land. The bears had been moved to the mountains by their king, Iorek Byrnison and life was getting rougher by the minute. Food was scarce, and the world they passed into was different in many ways.

People here did not see a bear as a proud warrior, but rather as a beast to be feared and shot at. Even their ferocity has come into question as not but two days ago, a young man stood against their king with nothing but a knife and bravery unmatched by anything on the plane of existence.

This bear, done with its meal and ready for a night of uncomfortable sleep, makes its way toward the forest. Her name is Xatella. A female bear of mass proportions, almost rivaling the great king himself. She is a seasoned warrior and specializes in the art of throwing fire from long distances. Her accuracy is unmatched and her strength, almost as much.

Her armor, as it is with all bears, is unique and represents her soul as each bear makes its own. She is not and elder and she has no children, for the life of a warrior seemed much more alluring. Nothing about her nature suggests that she would ever find an alternate life suitable for her in the long run. But nonetheless, here she is, feasting on strange yet familiar creatures in an unknown world. The thought of becoming an adventurer makes her chuckle to herself; as such things to her are very over-rated.

Xatella settles down on a small pile of cold dead leaves and tries to fall into the great abyss known to all as sleep. Meanwhile, a boy no older than perhaps fourteen or fifteen makes his way into this strange new world.

He is very tall for his age, solidly built, and with short brown-red hair that sways to the right. Closely following him is a red fox with very distinct markings. Their names are Jack and Scarlett. These two companions have been traveling for a while though all the different worlds. Human and demon, side by side, taking in all the wonder of the different places they've been.

Jack comes from a world where the innermost part of themselves is very visible indeed. Everyone has an animal companion simply called demons. Scarlett is Jack's alter self. Scarlett herself is a spectacular creature by all means. The lustrous crimson of her fur glistens in the moonlight, she has very distinct color separation from the black of her feet to the wight of the tip of her tail, and every color stands out and is not blurred in a single possible way with another color. The most distinct feature, however, is the large black heart shape she holds upon her chest. Her eyes are the deepest shade of emerald this world could muster to come into being.

Jack however, is a very uninteresting fellow. He has always grown up in the back alleys of that familiar Oxford, always getting into trouble and never backing down from a challenge. Other than Scarlett, the only other moderately interesting thing Jack carries with him, is a sword of massive proportions, even by bear standards. While Jack always prefers to use his head rather than a weapon, he by no means can't lift and use his sword when the time is necessary. He had it made by a strange fellow in a separate world from both this one and the world he came from. Even though the sword was big, it was by no means cumbersome to him. Anyone else trying to lift the great sword would find it difficult to do so.

The world they were in now seemed friendly enough to settle down for a rest, so taking the opportunity, Jack makes for the tree line with his demon hot on his heels.

"Wait," Scarlett with her keen ears perked up, "I think I hear heavy breathing from a very big creature. Be careful."

Keeping his hand to his weapon, and his brain flexing to see how the situation would turn out, he makes his way fearlessly further toward the breathing. Scarlett's fur was standing on end with fear and anticipation, after all, if he couldn't be scared Scarlett could.

Rounding a big oak tree, Jack stops dead in his tracks as he finds the sleeping bear. He has had to deal with bears before, in other worlds. But this bear he knew would not be as easy to cope with. He knew this as a polar bear from his own world, a citizen and by the armor against the tree, a soldier of Svalbard. He would have to think fast if this creature awoke with him still standing there as if poised for combat.

Xatella knew of these two standing in front of her and simply played opossum waiting for them to either run or strike at her. Her anger has tempered with every human encounter she's had since she's been here. This newcomer would get a great surprise and a one-way ticket to the abyss if he even hinted on anything malicious.

So it began, the battle of wills and thoughts. Jack keeping his mind calm, Scarlett keeping watch for any sort of movement in the bear. Xatella waiting for the time she could strike out.

Suddenly Scarlett's ears twitched with the hint of something else coming their way. She was so focused on the bear, she couldn't hear the solid wing beats of the cliff-ghasts as they approached. Xatella must have heard this noise too, because within a minute, she was up and suiting her armor, completely ignoring the boy and his demon. Jack, left in the dark as he couldn't hear the wings draws his sword with one hand and places it at the ready to fight the great bear.

Xatella, now completely garbed in her thick armor takes note of this boys actions and now considers him the enemy, thinking he led the cliff-ghasts to her position. She stands on her feet and lets out a bellowing roar that shakes the very foundation of the earth beneath Jack's feet. But he does not budge and he shows no fear, for his mind is too busy calculating every possible outcome and every movement exactly.

So the three factions stand, the warrior, the fearless adventurer, and the hungry cliff-ghasts coming in close to their next meal. The air is electric with the friction of the oncoming battle and anticipation, excitement, fear, and fury ravage through the air like lightning.

End Chapter 1

Well, this first chapter is to introduce the two main characters in as much detail as I could muster. Chapter two will be here soon.


	2. Chapter 2 Wild Stories

Disclaimer: I don't own any work of Phillip Pullman's or the rights to his works in any way.

Chapter 2: Wild Stories

Jack stands with his sword at the ready, waiting for the bear to make the first move. Ten-thousand thoughts rush through his mind all on the single purpose of escaping with his life. Through all of his focus on the great bear before him, the wing beats of the cliff-ghasts have become very audible and their cackles resound through the trees like water around rocks.

Scarlett, knowing that he didn't hear the oncoming group, had to bite Jack's leg to snap him out of his trance-like focus. She has had to do this more than once in their lifetime and he was starting to develop a scar.

Wincing in pain, Jack came-to only to hear the very distinctive wing beats over his head as the cliff-ghasts arrived to capture their prey.

A particularly ugly one begins to dive when a vial crashes into the side of its skull and bursts into flame. The cliff-ghast screams in pain as it falls to the ground on torn and bleeding wings caused by the broken glass. The ghast lies on the ground convulsing as the fire eats away at its muscle fibers and makes his senses erupt with a fierce torture that is yet to be matched. After a prolonged minute of screaming, thrashing, and the spray of blood those actions have caused, the thing lay still, the meat on his bones contracting until the ghast looked like a burning lump of bad meat.

Jack stood, watching in a sickened state of excitement as all of this took place. His photographic memory kicking in on habit, he started to dissect what must have been in that vial. Was it a mixture of phosphorus and water contained in an air tight crystal container? Or was it something else?

Scarlett, sensing what was happening bit him again the leg to snap him out of it. It worked, as always, and he shot her that look he always gave her. An expression of annoyance, pain, and thankfulness all at once, she was right as always, keep your head in the fight.

The ghasts were even more on edge now that one of their kin has been killed and a few others hit with a drop of the incinerating liquid, trying to put themselves out.

Another dives from a tree to take the head off the boy only to meet five and a half feet of sharpened steel run through the length of his body, cutting it down the middle. It collapses in a sea of its own blood making sickening gurgling sounds as all of its organs systematically start to fail in the open air.

Jack is by no means an inexperienced fighter. Growing up as a renegade has taught him how to fight beyond even his own measure. His mind can keep track of every movement of every participant in the fray at the same time. And to edge more into his favor, his sword is very sharp and easily used by his hands.

So it began a series of cries, the spray of blood, and the fury in the air. The ghasts make their killing blows strikes only to be parried and countered. The boy and his demon fighting alongside the great bear warrior.

Xatella had no issues fighting such frail creatures. Her massive paws the size of a man's torso, always finding its mark on the heads of the cliff-ghasts, shattering them upon contact. The claws tearing into the soft tissue of her target's brain. This is what she lives for, this is why she fights. The thrill of taking a life, the gamble of pitting her life against her enemy's. She tears through the ghasts like paper, breaking bones and tasting their blood as it falls off her face into her mouth, reveling in the massacre.

So they fought, side by side yet unaware they were doing so. They still considered each other with hostility, but each lives by the forever rule of the enemy of my enemy. They bash, cut, scream, and kill until none are left.

In his haste, and she in hers, Jack and Xatella turn around in a flash and lock together, sword and claw. Normally, a bear would have no trouble overpowering such a creature as a human, but deep in his eyes burned a blood lust so fierce that it made her very soul shudder where it lay. And there they stood eyes locked, wills un-budging. Knowing that this would last until their strength faded, Xatella backs down from the young warrior.

"You fight well for a human so young."

"The same could be said for you maam." Jack has always been a fairly kind person and always treated people with as much respect as they showed him. A bear was certainly no exception.

"What name do you go by, young one?" Xatella was dismantling her armor and laying it back up against a tree.

"My name is Jack, Jack Harwen, and this is Scarlett."

Hack had laid down his sword as a sign of peace and Scarlett became a little more relaxed.

"Well then Jack Harwen, as a sign of good will and custom, I invite you to a meal, as you have fought bravely and we are victorious in battle."

"I would be greatly honored."

Jack knew better than to refuse the hospitality of a bear. Not many people can boast being able to fight alongside a bear, let alone being able to feast with one. Even if said feast was nothing but a loaf of old bread and a few pieces of salted meat, the principle still stands.

They talked of many things. To each other they told their life stories. Xatella had grown up in the kingdom of Svalbard, following orders and pursuing her dream of fighting in battle, just the average story in the life of a bear.

Jack however wove a tale of immense proportions that captivated the bear's whole attention. Jack had grown up on the back alleys of Oxford in the world they both knew very well. His parents passed away, murdered for heresy at the hands of the church. He grew up as a renegade with no one but Scarlett at his side. They grew up together in a harsh world, stealing what they needed and never looking back.

As Jack's story grew broader, he explained that he found a window into another world a group of children told him was called Cittagazze and watched as those same children were chased off by a group of witches protecting two other children. One of them was badly wounded leaving a dark scar across the grass where he ran. In the aftermath he went to follow the two of them to see what kind of trouble he could get himself into. He then explained that he became lost and did his usual act of following his instincts.

"What do you plan to do now?" Xatella was very intrigued by this boy, such a life of hardship and strife. This was truly the most resilient being she had ever laid eyes upon.

"I heard that a man named Asriel is putting together an army against the Authority. Just figured I might see what I can get myself into."

Xatella admired this boy's spirit and his affiliation for war. She took full stock of the boy and knew without a doubt that this human's greatest weapon was his mind, not his sword. She also took into consideration the symbolism of his demon. A canine usually means that a person is submissive and ready to serve. But a fox however, meant that he was crafty and a good liar. She would have to be careful around him; there are more than one people in the world who wouldn't mind the glory of a bear's pelt.

Xatella exclaims that she too is going to aid her king alongside Asriel and agrees to be Jack's escort. And so, with a new alliance formed, they sleep with the smell of rotting flesh all around them as the stench fills the forest beckoning the scavengers to feast.

Jack's mind, never stopping, starts to think of all the achievements he has accomplished in his life. This meeting with Xatella was by far the greatest one to date. However, bears have always been known to side with the highest bidder. He would have to keep a watchful eye on her if he wanted to accomplish his task.

To kill the being who took his future away from him, to kill the Authority.

End Chapter 2


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